I always have a hard time choosing my favorite tree, but today I think it must be the sycamore. When I see the winter sunlight shining on their lovely white trunks and arms, all flecked with tan and brown and olive, it’s hard to think of a more beautiful tree.

For more than 30 years, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook has collected information about local weather conditions. Equipment used to monitor acid rain was installed in 1983 and has provided continuous insight into rain and snow data.

It's no secret that Americans love salt. But our uses for it extend well beyond the kitchen: It turns out we dump so much of the stuff on our roads that a lot of it ends up in our freshwater rivers and streams. Thanks again polar vortex.

What if we could vaccinate the white-footed mice that account for the majority of the transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi (the cause of Lyme disease) and significantly reduce the level of tick infection?

On Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m. join the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies for a free screening of Emptying the Skies, a documentary film about the widespread poaching of migratory songbirds in the Mediterranean and the heroism of a team of Italian bird-lovers trying to put an end to the practice.

On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a proposed rule that allows soap and hygiene product manufacturers one year to prove "antibacterial" additives are safe and effective.

Warming temperatures and increased extreme weather events such as drought, rainstorms and flooding, contribute to the nation's changing disease map, experts say. USA Today reports on this trend and how it has impacted the spread of various diseases including tick-borne illnesses.

Triclosan – a synthetic antibacterial – is driving the development of resistant bacteria in streams and rivers, with urban sites most impacted. So reports a recent study by the Cary Institute’s Emma Rosi-Marshall.

Initially, Rick Ostfeld’s work at the Cary Institute focused on how small mammals shape forests. Early on, he noticed a unique relationship among mice, black-legged ticks, and the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

Invasive pests and pathogens threaten the health of Northeastern forests. Cary Institute ecologist Gary Lovett has spent his career investigating the impact that species like the hemlock woolly adelgid and beech bark disease have on Catskill Mountain ecosystems.

We live on the blue planet. Some 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, but only 2.5% is classified as fresh. And most freshwater is frozen in polar icecaps, or present in areas that can’t be tapped, such as deep underground aquifers or moisture in soils.